This two-ingredient dulce de leche is the easiest recipe ever

The origin of dulce de leche is a mystery. A distracted Argentine housekeeper may have left a pot of sweet milk on the stove too long. But perhaps she lived in Uruguay. Maybe it was Napoleon’s personal chef – or a handful of his soldiers – who burned their beverages while otherwise occupied on the battlefield. What all the fables have in common is a reverence for the world’s most delicious cooking accident.

Dulce de leche is the heavenly result of slowly simmered sugar and milk. Seriously slowly simmered – like for hours. It’s often compared to caramel, but that misses the mark. Caramel is made from cooked sugar. DDL’s sugar-plus-milk combination takes the toasty sweetness of caramel and adds an incandescent richness that you feel from the roof of your mouth to the tips of your toes.

Imagine my giddiness when I discovered this decadent confection can be made with one slow cooker, two cans of condensed milk and zero effort. Let me just say, I now have nine jars of DDL in my refrigerator, and no one in my family is mad about it.

Simply open the cans of sweetened condensed milk – not evaporated milk, please and thank you. Divide the syrupy goodness between three glass canning jars, using a rubber spatula to extract every last drop. 

Then pick a flavor, like sea salt. Stir it in tenderly and lovingly – this is the only work you have to do, so you might as well do it with some ceremony. The amount of sea salt is entirely up to you. I initially added one-quarter teaspoon to each jar. That was the exact right amount when my DDL was served warm. But when consumed cold – straight out of the jar, over the sink, in the middle of the night – it was so salty my lips pursed. Start with less because, like a good story, you can always add more embellishment, but you can’t take it back.

Screw the lids on tightly and place the jars upright in your slow cooker, then add hot tap water until the jars are submerged. My research recipes required covering the lids by an inch, but those writers either had squatty jars or bathtub-sized slow cookers. I filled mine to the tippy top, and water only covered the jars by a quarter-inch. Fortunately, water doesn’t evaporate from the slow cooker, so that scant measurement was enough. 

Cook on low for eight hours, leaving it alone except for lingering gazes of anticipation. Then use tongs to pull the jars out of the water, and let them cool on your countertop. When the jars are touchable, your milk caramel is ready to be savored.

Not only is slow cooker dulce de leche effortless, the texture is ethereal – it’s neither solid, nor liquid, nor rubbery, nor gritty. It’s smooth like hot fudge on its best day, which is why DDL-kissed ice cream is a dazzling dessert; so are apple pie, bread pudding, shortbread cookies and flourless cake. But by far my favorite use of DDL is layered over dried apricots, covered in a blanket of dark chocolate. If you make only one recipe, make that.

If you become as obsessed with dulce de leche as I am, try experimenting with different flavors. Vanilla is an easy add. I liked cinnamon and bourbon. Complex seasonings like chili and curry powder move DDL into the savory universe. As with sea salt, the amount of bonus ingredients varies. A good rule of thumb is one-eighth teaspoon per jar for dry ingredients and one-quarter teaspoon for wet. Then, eight hours later, taste and make a mental note of any adjustments for next time. There will be a next time.

Recipes

Sea Salt Dulce de Leche
About 24 ounces 

2 14-oz. cans sweetened condensed milk
Scant ½ tsp. sea salt, divided
Special equipment: 3 half-pint canning jars with lids and a slow cooker

• Divide the condensed milk and salt equally among the canning jars, and stir well. Tighten the lids onto the jars, and place them upright in the slow cooker.

• Add hot tap water to the slow cooker until the jars are completely covered. Cover the slow cooker and cook on low 8 hours.

• Use tongs to remove the jars from the hot water and let rest at room temperature until cool enough to handle. Serve warm or refrigerate up to 3 weeks.

Pork Tenderloin with Chili Dulce de Leche Glaze
3 to 4 servings

1 1½-lb. pork tenderloin
1 tsp. olive oil
½ tsp. kosher salt
¼ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup chili dulce de leche
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 tsp. minced garlic
¼ tsp. ground chipotle

• Preheat a covered gas grill to 350 degrees or prepare a charcoal grill for medium, indirect heat. Rub the tenderloin with the olive oil, salt and pepper.

• Microwave the dulce de leche in a small bowl on high 30 seconds. Stir in the Dijon, garlic and chipotle.

• Grill the tenderloin, covered, turning occasionally until lightly charred on all sides, 15 to 20 minutes. Brush the tenderloin with the dulce de leche glaze on all sides, then continue to cook, turning frequently, until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees, 5 to 10 more minutes.

• Let the tenderloin rest 5 minutes, then serve hot.

Bourbon Dulce de Leche Bread Pudding 
8 to 10 servings

2 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. butter, divided
6 cups stale Italian bread, cut into 1½-inch cubes
2½ cups whole milk
1 cup room-temperature bourbon dulce de leche, plus more for serving
¼ cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 large eggs, beaten

• Using 1 teaspoon butter, grease a 9-by-9-inch baking dish, then add the bread and set aside.

• In a blender, combine the remaining 2 tablespoons butter, milk, dulce de leche, sugar and vanilla. Blend until well combined, 30 seconds. Add the eggs and pulse 2 to 3 times, until just incorporated. Pour the milk mixture over the bread. 

• Cover the baking dish securely with aluminum foil and let the bread soak 1 hour in the refrigerator.

• Remove the bread pudding from the refrigerator and let rest at room temperature while you preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

• Tent the baking dish with foil and bake 25 minutes. Remove the foil and continue to bake until the center is firm and the exposed bread cubes are golden brown, 30 to 35 minutes.

• Let rest 10 minutes before serving warm with additional warmed bourbon dulce de leche.

Iced Dulce de Leche Coffee 
1 serving

1 cup hot coffee
2 Tbsp. cinnamon dulce de leche
1 cup ice

• Stir the dulce de leche into the coffee until it is completely dissolved. Pour over ice and serve.

Chocolate-Covered Dulce de Leche Apricots 
4 servings 

3 oz. vanilla dulce de leche
3 oz. dark chocolate melting wafers, like Ghirardelli
3 oz. dried apricots

• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

• Place the dulce de leche in a small bowl and microwave on high 20 seconds, then stir. Microwave 10 seconds then stir again, repeating until the dulce de leche is liquefied but not boiling.

• Place the chocolate in another small bowl and microwave on medium 20 seconds. Microwave 10 seconds then stir again, repeating until the chocolate is smooth.

• Dip each apricot in the dulce de leche and then the chocolate, shaking off any excess. Place them on the prepared baking sheet to cool. If the dulce de leche or chocolate become too thick, reheat them in the microwave 15 seconds.

• Refrigerate 30 minutes, then serve or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better...

Skip the sea salt and flavor your condensed milk with one of the following. A general rule of thumb is to add 1/8 teaspoon of a dry ingredient or ¼ teaspoon of a wet ingredient to each jar before cooking, then taste when it’s done and adjust to your liking.

* bourbon
* cardamom
* cinnamon
* chili powder
* cloves
* chocolate syrup
* curry powder
* espresso
* Irish cream
* orange extract
* rum
* vanilla extract

Kellie Hynes is a longtime contributor to Sauce Magazine.